(From left) Bono, Paul McCartney and Freddie Mercury perform together at the Live Aid Concert in London. (Photo by Steve Rapport/Photoshot/Getty Images)

Live Aid was staged on Saturday, July 13, 1985. About 75 different acts performed live for about 170,000 people in London and Philadelphia. Meanwhile, an estimated 1.5 billion people in 110 countries watched it via a live television stream from 13 satellites. More than 40 nations also held telethons for African famine relief during the broadcast.

In our current digital age, these numbers may seem quaint, but in 1985, there was no World Wide Web, no email, no live blogging and no Twitter. Most people still listened to music by listening to the radio or playing vinyl records and cassette tapes; compact discs (CDs) only became widely available this same year.

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The event was a spectacular success, though not without its problems. Satellite links between London and Philadelphia failed several times. But in an ultimate triumph of technology and good will, the event raised more than $125 million in famine relief for Africa.

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Origins: Band Aid and USA for Africa

Live Aid was the brainchild of Bob Geldof, the singer of Irish rock group the Boomtown Rats, whose biggest hit was “I Don’t Like Mondays.” In 1984, news reports of a horrific famine that had killed hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians and threatened to kill millions more prompted Geldof to travel to Ethiopia. Upon returning to London, he gathered some of the United Kingdom’s top pop artists Culture Club, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, U2, Wham!, and others to form Band Aid.

Released on December 3, 1984, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” written by Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure and performed by Band Aid was the best-selling single in the U.K. to that date. Its proceeds raised more than $10 million for Ethiopian famine relief. Also a No. 1 hit in the United States, the song inspired U.S. pop artists to come together.

An Ambitious Event

As the famine continued in Ethiopia and spread to neighboring Sudan, Geldof proposed Live Aid, a dual charity concert whose purpose was to raise money and awareness of the struggles plaguing those African regions. Coordinated in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was nothing if not ambitious. The event consisted of two concerts, one in London’s Wembley Stadium and the other in Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, which ran almost simultaneously. While one show took a break to change sets and equipment, the other featured an act that kept television audiences glued to the screen and, it was hoped, not far from their phones.

Around midday (London time) on July 13, 1985, Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially kicked off Live Aid and an unprecedented 75 artists performed, sometimes joining each other onstage. Continuing on at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, the “super concert” clocked in at 16 hours.

Concert Highlights

Phil Collins performed at Wembley concert and then memorably boarded the turbojet-powered supersonic passenger jet the Concorde, which delivered him to Philadelphia where he performed again. Later in the show, he filled in for the late John Bonham to play drums in a reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin.

The London bill included the Boomtown Rats, Adam Ant, Elvis Costello, Sade, Sting, Bryan Ferry, U2, Dire Straits, Queen, David Bowie, The Who, Elton John, and Paul McCartney. Being included in the event was a big break for U2 and Bono famously made the most of it by pulling 15-year-old Kal Khalique out of the audience slow dancing with her (for about 20 seconds) as the band played on.

Musically, the critics seemed to concur that Queen stole the show as the band had never sounded better.

At the London finale, The Who’s Pete Townsend and Beatle Paul McCartney help up Bob Geldof on their shoulders while taking part in the collective performance of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” The U.S. concert ended six hours later with “We Are the World.”

Live Aid’s Legacy: Live 8 and Beyond

The funds Live Aid raised and the level of publicity it brought forth inspired Western nations to supply enough grain to stop the immediate starvation crisis in Africa. Queen Elizabeth II later knighted Geldof for his efforts, and he has remained a committed activist.

In July 2005 Geldof put a light on global poverty by strategically holding a number of "Live 8" concerts across 11 countries mere days before the G8 summit that year. Geldof was trying to force the G8 nations to address the problems facing the extremely poor, and it appeared his efforts proved successful.

Broadcast on over 180 television networks and 2,000 radio stations, the concert series, which consisted of 1,000 musicians, was watched by three billion people.

But Live 8 was not a fundraiser like Live Aid had been in the past. Instead, Geldof used the slogan: “We don’t want your money; we want your voice” in hopes that the G8 nations would act politically on behalf of the poor. In the end, they did just that, cancelling 18 of the poorest nations' debt, increasing aid to Africa, and offering more access to AIDS drugs.

Geldof has said he sees “no political logic” to staging such another Live Aid but Band Aid (this time featuring Chris Martin of Coldplay, Elbow, Foals, Sinead O’Connor and Bono) did release a new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” with updated lyrics in November 2014. Proceeds from its sales will go toward fighting against Ebola in Africa.

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